East by Far East: Vladivostok Rocks

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — “Ilya! Ilya!” came the chant from the crowd of thousands in the central square here on a recent night. Clad in a retro-futuristic silver suit, Ilya Lagutenko, this city’s hometown star and the frontman of one of the country’s most popular bands, Mumiy Troll, flipped his hair and sang, in English and Russian, about love, sailors and other matters of local pride.

The rock show’s setting — in this formerly closed-off Soviet military enclave — is one of the last places you would expect to find a posse of multicultural indie rockers. But last week, Vladivostok, a port town in Russia’s Far East, morphed into a kind of South by Southwest on the Sea of Japan. Over four days, more than 40 acts, mainly from Russia and Asia, played free shows in clubs, parks and the main square, taking bows across from an imposing memorial dedicated to “Fighters for Soviet Power.”

This was V-Rox, billed as the first rock festival of its kind in Russia. The similarity to SXSW, the expansive festival that helped put Austin, Tex., on the map as a destination for creative types, was intentional, said Mr. Lagutenko, who dreamed up V-Rox.

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Fans thronged the stages last weekend during the V-Rox music festival in Vladivostok, Russia. The festival’s creator, Ilya Lagutenko, was inspired by South by Southwest.CreditBen C. Solomon for The New York Times

Its presence here speaks to the reach of an Internet-bred musical culture that mints earnest rock stars and connects hip-hop heads from Brooklyn to Shanghai. Fans arrived here from Ukraine and Siberia, and members of panel sessions came from across the globe. Vladivostok, which 25 years ago didn’t allow visitors, was, for a few days at least, an international artistic beacon.

A growing number of such festivals show how far fans whose musical appetite has been stoked by online listening and social media are willing to travel for a memorable offline experience. Other examples include Iceland Airwaves, in Reykjavik; the Midi showcases across China; and Traenafestival, on Nordic islands around the Arctic Circle.

“Whatever is happening in Russia’s music industry, it’s so similar to whatever happens in China, in Korea,” Mr. Lagutenko, 44, said backstage before his show. “I’m talking to any small or big artist, independent or corporate. Right now, all over the world, the ideas are the same.”

Roland Swenson, a founder and the managing director of SXSW, Austin’s $200 million economic and marketing engine, sees that pattern in the plethora of copycat festivals. “I get a call almost every week from some city somewhere that wants to start an event like SXSW,” he said.

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Ilya Lagutenko, the lead singer of Mumiy Troll, performing on the main stage at V-Rox.CreditBen C. Solomon for The New York Times

There were practical and economic goals in creating V-Rox, too. Mr. Lagutenko’s hope was that bringing it to Vladivostok, a shrinking city of less than 600,000 bordered by China and a ferry ride away from Japan, would help it become a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, a hope that has also been expressed by the Putin administration. Though it’s more than 5,000 miles from Moscow, this city and the surrounding Primorsky Krai region have received $20 billion in federal funds over the last two years for infrastructure projects, largely to prepare for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting held here in 2012. At a cost of more than $1 billion, a bridge was built to connect Vladivostok to Russky Island, a former secret military base, where the city also erected a massive university complex.

The complex remains empty (the development in this case outpacing the need), so during the festival, it was used as housing for the visiting V-Rox performers. They treated it as their own private campus, jamming and drinking together into the wee hours. Though the Kremlin has been increasingly intolerant of political dissent, whether it comes packaged in pop culture or not —the activists of Pussy Riot being but one example — V-Rox and its mostly apolitical musicians seem to have escaped judgment so far.

The city was behind V-Rox, buying lights and sound equipment, and providing security. Unsmiling policemen in peaked caps guarded the main stage. Other financial help came from sponsors like S7 Airlines, based in Siberia, which flew in guests free (albeit with a layover in Novosibirsk).

The mayor, Igor Pushkarev, introduced Mumiy Troll’s performance himself, and on Monday, he pronounced V-Rox a hit, saying that 30,000 people attended its events, although that number wasn’t independently verifiable. Organizers also said that 25,000 people watched a live stream. These days, Vladivostok — the name loosely translates to “conqueror of the East” — is “no different than the West,” Mr. Pushkarev said in an interview. To succeed, “Vladivostok needs to be integrated into global culture.” He added, “The gates are open.”

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Security was on hand for the event, which was graced by a rainbow.CreditBen C. Solomon for The New York Times

That wasn’t always the case. When Mr. Lagutenko was growing up here, and Vladivostok was considered a strategic naval base, he was sealed off from outside influences, and the Russian rock scene was nearly nonexistent. “The actual idea of having rock bands in Soviet Union was totally out of anyone’s agenda,” he said. Making a living by playing in a band was “a fantasy,” he added.

Now, Mr. Lagutenko has homes in Los Angeles, Moscow and Vladivostok, and there’s a plugged-in Russian rock world. Alex Gagarin, 34, a self-described indie rocker from Yekaterinburg, in the center of Russia, has had a band, Sansara, for 15 years and welcomed the chance to make his mark globally at V-Rox. “People think the only vital things happen in Europe and America, but that hasn’t been true for a long time,” he said.

Into the mix of Russian acts, V-Rox brought artists representing a range of styles: No Brain, a Korean punk band; Emufucka, Japanese electronica; and a Singaporean rapper and D.J., Mark Bonafide and Andrew Chow. (The sole American, Julien-K, is best known for writing a hit for the ’90s rap-rockers Korn.) Though the bills were unfamiliar, locals turned out. “I’m pro these kind of concerts,” Elena Kuzmina, 49, a postal worker, said as she walked through the square on Saturday. A Friday show on the beachfront drew retirees and teenagers, both sets dancing bravely to a local punk act.

For the artists, the draw is clear: They need the festival platform to build the exposure and connections that record labels used to offer. “In the industry today,” Mr. Lagutenko said, “there aren’t big companies that can right away put you on the map, because they don’t have the resources like that anymore.”

For music insiders, V-Rox provided the thrill of the truly undiscovered. “It’s a city I’ve never heard of, and it’s all bands that I don’t know — which is great,” said Alan Miller, a co-founder of Filter, the music magazine, who came to be on a panel at V-Rox.

The learning curve extended from festivalgoers to performers. “Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin,” the members of the Korean band Goonamguayeoridingstella said, listing what they knew of Russian culture. They were aware, though, of Russia’s strictures on homosexuality. Eem Byung Hak, 33, the bassist for the group — a Seoul jam band nicknamed Goonam — said he supported gay rights but did not consider boycotting V-Rox. “I don’t think of this festival as politics, just friendship,” he said.

But V-Rox is still a long way from the must-attend status and accessibility of SXSW. (Not to mention the tacos.) Marketing itself smoothly is something the town may still need help with. A promotional video shown at the festival, for example, boasted that Vladivostok has “the most beautiful girls” around. “People don’t think there’s anything going on here, culturally,” fretted Yuliya Kryukova, 28, a singer with the polished Moscow group InWhite, which performed at Mumiy Troll’s Music Bar on Sunday night.

She grew up in St. Petersburg, listening to Mumiy Troll; now her tastes run to Radiohead and lesser-known British acts like James Blake. “My generation, we got the opportunity to listen to a lot of different music all at once,” she said,adding that this was a pivotal moment in Russia, creatively. “For a long time, we were in a cultural vacuum,” which left her unsure of her place as an artist, she said.

But after spending days with musicians from around the world, she felt she belonged. “It’s clear,” she said, “that we’re on the same level.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: East by Far East: Vladivostok Rocks. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe